ISIS in al-Shadadi

Over the last two years the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) has interviewed 62 ISIS defectors, returnees and prisoners, most denouncing ISIS, in our Breaking the ISIS Brand Counter-Narrative Project. ICSVE has been capturing these interviews on video which are later cut down and produced into short video clips for the purposes of disrupting ISIS’s online and face-to-face recruitment. The Breaking the ISIS Brand video clips are currently being used by imams, teachers, police, prison rehabilitation workers, psychologists, social workers and others for prevention and intervention efforts on four continents. ICSVE staff have also used them to fight ISIS on the Internet on various social media platforms.

Our newest video ISIS in al-Shadadi produced by ICSVE’s Zack Baddorf is based on Anne Speckhard’s and Ahmet S. Yayla’s interview in Turkey of Syrian ISIS defector, Ibn Mesud. Ibn Mesud, a child soldier in ISIS, serving in the Cubs of the Caliphatespeaks in this video clip about rape and cover-ups inside the Islamic State and advises viewers that “it would be better to eat dirt than join ISIS.”

The transcript of the video clip is below and the video can be viewed here.

Title: ISIS in al-Shadadi

0.02 Our neighbor’s husband was killed as a martyr fighting in a battle.

0:10 She had four kids.

0:14 People were helping her out by giving her money.

0:18 She was multazima [practicing Islam].

0:21 They offered to marry her to an ISIS member.

0:25 She refused.

0:26 She said, ‘I can’t. I have to provide for my kids.’

0:28 IBN MESUD

Former ISIS Child Soldier

0:31 The man said, ‘I will provide for them.’

0:32 She answered, ‘I will think it.’

0:35 He started bringing her food from restaurants.

0:41 Once he brought her tea and coffee. They sat together, talking and laughing.

0:50 He added drugs in her tea.

0:55 He took her to his house [in his car]. She was unconscious.

1:01 He raped her, then he took her back to her house.

1:08 She went to the Sheikh to file a complaint.

1:12 She told him what happened, saying that he slept with her.

1:18 They said she could marry him in order to avoid a scandal.

1:25 When he slept with her, he video recorded it.

1:29 He threatened to show the video, if she didn’t agree to marry him.

1:32 She eventually consented to the marriage.

1:35 They married.

1:41 But, when he wasn’t home, he would let his friends go to his house.

1:46 Under the pretense of going there to relax, his friends would rape her too.

1:54 She was so upset that she complained to the court.

1:59 She explained what her husband did, but the judge didn’t believe her.

2:03 ‘Do you have a witness?’ [the judge asked her].

2:05 She replied, ‘Allah saw everything that those pigs did to me.’

2:09 ‘And my husband knew all about it.’

2:13 Her husband wanted her stoned to death.

2:16 So they charged her with adultery and they stoned her.

2:20 Even the judge took their side. Nobody could say anything [to defend her].

2:23 They were all against her, even though her children were still very young.

2:29 After they stoned her to death, they kept her body hanging outside for two days.

2:35 They hung a sign on her body explaining her ‘crime’.

2:41 She was crucified.

2:45 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

2:49 I advise my brothers, who are my age or younger: do not be tricked by ISIS.

3:01 It would be better to eat dirt than join ISIS.

3:10 People live in darkness under their rule.

3:22 The Truth about the Islamic State

3:25 Sponsored by the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism www.ICSVE.org

Anne Speckhard, Ph.D. is Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine and has also taught the Psychology of Terrorism for the Security Studies Department in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is the Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism. Dr. Speckhard has been working in the field of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the 1980’s and has extensive experience working in Europe, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.

ICSVE welcomes partners and donors interested in fighting violent extremism. Contact us to learn how we can work together.

About ICSVE

The International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) is an action based, interdisciplinary, research center working on psychosocial, cultural, political, economic, ideological, and technological topics impacting global peace and security.